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MLB Picks

MLB Picks: Angels vs. Rangers

It was just a week ago that the 2013 MLB betting season got underway in Houston with a clash between the Astros and Texas Rangers.

ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball crew is back in
the Lone Star State
to bring the first week of the schedule to a close with yet another AL West
collision, and there's potential for a solid pitchers duel as the Rangers host
Los Angeles Angels.

The rubber game of this set gets underway a little past 8 PM
(ET), and there should be a bit of a playoff buzz in the crowd despite this game
only finishing up the first of six series meetings on the slate. Jeff Weaver and Yu Darvish will each take
their second turn in the rotation for their respective clubs, and the MLB odds
at 5Dimes find the Rangers -134 favorites along with an 8.5 run total that
leans to the UNDER.

Texas grabbed the series opener on Friday behind Derek
Holland in a 3-2 victory, but the Halos came right back in Game 2 as Albert
Pujols broke out of his first-week slump with two of LA's four homers for an
8-4 triumph. In what will be the 802nd matchup
between the two foes, the Angels bring a 411-390 edge into Sunday's tilt.

Last year saw the Angels win 10 of the 19 battles, and they
are 85-69 at Rangers Ballpark since it opened in 1994 (39-39 since 2005). Seven of the 10 games played on this diamond
in 2012 produced nine runs or more, and in the six games played at Rangers
Ballpark that Weaver or Darvish appeared (three each), an average of 13.5 runs
came plateward.

Hamilton Off To Slow Start As His New Club Faces
His Old Mates

The Angels raided the Rangers for a second straight
offseason and signed a former Texas
star via the free agent market. It was
starting pitcher CJ Wilson prior to 2012 before convincing slugging outfielder
Josh Hamilton to change sides this past winter.

It didn't work out well for Wilson against his former
teammates last year when he recorded a 7.65 ERA in five starts vs. Texas
(Angels 2-3), and it hasn't started well for Hamilton who is 0-for-8 with a
walk so far in this series and hitting just .050 (1-for-20) on the young
campaign.

Hamilton doesn't seem to know
that he's in a slump, appearing far more interested in how Rangers fans are
treating him and his family members who have attended both games in Texas. Following the repeated loud chorus of boos in
Friday's game, his first back in Texas
since joining the Angels, Hamilton took a stab at Rangers fans by saying the
crowd "was louder than any playoff game."

While Hamilton has being
booed in Arlington, Yu Darvish was showered with
a lot of cheers and applause in Houston
on Tuesday when he made his first start of the year. Even Astros fans were cheering him as he came
within an out of a perfect game in Texas'
7-0 victory that saw the 2nd-year star strike out a career-best 14.

Weaver worked a day earlier in Cincinnati, allowing just two hits and a run
over six innings in a no-decision vs. the Reds.
The contest went 13 innings before the Angels grabbed the 3-1
dubya. Weaver got beat up on this mound
last season (6.48 ERA), but the Halos still managed to come away winners in two
of the three affairs. His last nine
starts on this field have seen him produce a 5.85 ERA (55.1 IP) with the Angels
going 4-5.

Larry Vanover should be south of the dish tonight. The past three seasons have seen his games
behind the plate trend OVER, and that's how his 2013 began this past Tuesday
with the total pushing past the number in Milwaukee
where the Brewers fell to the Colorado Rockies, 8-4.

Current forecasts for the D-FW area are calling for a rather
muggy start to the game with the thermometer in the mid-70s. The weatherman is also calling for some gusty
winds out of the S/SE. Even though the
winds are blowing in from right/right-center in this hitter-friendly park, they
can swirl a bit inside the stadium and actually help push balls out to
center/right-center.

A general wagering rule in baseball is fade a pitcher after
a no-hitter, and while Darvish came up short in his perfect game, I'm tempted
to get behind the Angels tonight as small road dogs. Instead, I'm going with the history of the
two pitchers at this park when the Angels and Rangers meet, and adding the OVER
to my Sunday MLB picks.